Quality of Ionized Alkaline Water

The health effect of this water comes from increased ORP, notfrom increased pH (alkalinity), higher the ORP and closer to natural pH7, the better.

Long term consumption of alkaline water can negatively effect digestive system since it dilutes stomach acid used for digestion.

An ionizer works primarily on the mineral content in the water. Dissolved mineral content creates the pathway for the “ionization” (or more correctly electrolysis) to occur. Water without mineral content, like reverse osmosis or distilled water, will not conduct the current and therefore can not be “ionized”. Tap waters vary widely in the dissolved mineral content. The higher the mineral content (“hard water”) the higher the levels of pH and ORP alteration; the lower the mineral content (“soft water”) the lower levels of pH and ORP alteration.

Small amount of hydrogen will be produced as bi-product during electrical conduction, but not enough to be able to call as Hydrogen water as definition. “Hydrogen water” must contain more than 0.8ppm (800ppb) to have health benefit. If the manufacture of ionizer claims it makes Hydrogen water (which they often do for marketing), ask the manufacture the hydrogen concentration data in ppm or ppb the machine produces. Most likely they don’t have any data, and if they do, the concentration is very low.

Another concern of long term consumption of ionized water is the small trace of dissolved metals from electrodes which are directly touching the drinking water in the machine. The concern was raised by Medical society since no study has been done.

Ionizer comparisons

I found comparison charts below while googling. The data could be a bit old, in fact, Leveluk by Enagic is about $4500 instead of $3,980 in this chart as of 2016, but the charts will give you a brief idea.

Use of Acidic Water

Some people likes acidic water created by ionizer for cleaning and disinfecting.

My better suggestion is using vinegar instead for all purpose cleaning. Vinegar is just about pH2.2, strong enough acid for cleaning but totally safe to use for everyday cleaning even around baby. I mix vinegar with water in 1:1 ratio in a spray bottle, but you can make it even stronger if you’d like. I’ve been using vinegar for cleaning over 15 years. It is economical, environmentaly safe, and it disinfects and cleans great! You can buy 2 gallons of vinegar for less than $4 at Costco. Two gallons could last for a few years 🙂

Things to consider before you purchase

The health benefit of ionized water comes from increased negative ORP, but you still may want to keep in mind the negative side of ionizing machine:

It needs electricity to function

After years of use, cleaning can be difficult

Expensive

Expensive to fix or replace after warranty expires

Drinking water contains trace of metal dissolved from electrodes with unknown health effect

Not enough concentration of Hydrogen to receive health benefit of Hydrogen

Possible negative effect to digestive system from long term consumption of alkaline water

If you’d like to avoid the negative side all together, you may want to consider taking Hydrogen water rather than ionized water.

No electricity needed unless you decided to purchase hydrogen machine.

No cleaning needed

Affordable

No machine maintenance cost

No dissolved metal

Very high concentration of Hydrogen to receive health benefit of Hydrogen

Neutral pH7, threfore, easy for stomach

Hydrogen makes high negative ORP with antioxidant property in itself.

There are enough studies proves Hydrogen works wonder in our body.

Since the first discovery by a group of scientist in 2007, there are more than 300 clinical studies and research papers have been published around the world, and many hospitals and clinical institutes have been using Hydrogen treating patients. You may find several detailed research papers (studies) at www.whyhydrogen.info.

Some people start noticing health effect of Hydrogen in a few days, if not, normally within 10 weeks to 3 months.